Anything that has utility value, a tool or system, mechanism or facility will be subject to a diverse range of influences with malice on one end and altruism on the other.
Are we able to build a Utopia out of the presently chaotic world that we live in? Perhaps. The physical universe tends towards chaos however and that applies to the ambitions of mankind as well. It will take a tremendous amount of concerted effort, both in planning and execution for a well-intentioned group that has sufficiently clout that extends across various aspects of our world - politics, economics, commercial, etc - to even make this a remote possibliity.
By prosperity, are you referring to material wealth? Or would that comprise more intangible aspects such as spiritual and emotional wealth?
If it is solely material prosperity that you are referring to, personally I believe it would be a gargantuan task to bring about global equality in this aspect. To rephrase it, we would ask this question: "Can every single person be in the world be materially rich?" and the answer to that hinges upon whether the resources of this world can be distributed equitably and fairly to all global citizens.
Looking at our present largely capitalist systems, wherein land (an example of resource) has either been carved up and is held privately by a relatively small group of individuals (a small percentage of land owners worldwide compared to the global population) or has been alloted to and are held by the governments, I do not think we will ever see in our lifetimes a Utopia in which the resources of the world can distributed equitably across all of mankind.
As for whether Ripple's management understands the principles that you are referring to, I believe none of us are privy to that specific information and it is unlikely we will ever discover their true motivations. And suppose even if they have fully altruistic motives behind what they are doing, what is the likelihood that entities with far greater power and influence would allow the transformation of the core of the existing systems and jeopardise the comfortable advantageous circumstances that they enjoy?
I would suggest that the superficial layers are permitted to be changed to maintain the illusion of democracy but the underlying structures will always be carefully protected and preserved. For now, we ride the waves of these superficial changes.

At the end of the day, the struggles and competition between nations, between multinational corporations, between people are simply illusionary. We are merely fighting for relative dominance and share of Earth's resources (including human beings' time, labour, intellect). The pie to be shared is the Earth's resources so no matter what we are doing today, our efforts go towards trying to increase our share of the pie. Perhaps in the near future we may be able to access the resources of other planets but that will only just mean the pie has gotten bigger while still not changing the essence of these struggles (fighting for a share of finite resources).

The control of a nation's money supply is an immense advantage. The existing global monetary system is sluggish and awkward due to flaws and limitations in its inherent design (technological limits back then). This translates to severe constraints in the ability of governments to leverage on the monetary system for greater benefits.
The natural order of human civilisation is towards expanding influence. The governments of "wealthy" nations seek to increase their influence over the others so as to maximise their own benefits while the latter are exploring ways to unlock the value that is trapped in their resources (people, raw materials, produce, etc). A new monetary system that leverages on technology allows these governments to fulfill their desires.
Just as water finds its level across two containers when they are connected, a new monetary system that allows quicker and less-constrained flows will help to establish an equilibrium across nations. Will there be parties that will lose their monopoly or advantages when such equilibrium happens? Inevitably. However, these entities have always been just tools and when this old set of tools are worn and have been made irrelevant, new tools will have already been found and become important cogs and gears of the new world. Out with the old even as the new are heralded and ushered into dominance.

The "wealthy" nations have fiat currencies that are strong relative to those of "poor" nations.
The "poor" nations have (most at least) large populations of people who are hungry for work/trade.
A friction-less system of allowing the transfer of value allows the movement of value (money and products/manpower/services) and this unlocks the potential of the latent value in the "poor" nations while letting the "wealthy" nations unlock greater benefits of the strong purchasing power of their money.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1158377.shtml
"This is a clear signal that the financial authorities are starting to loosen control over digital currency and virtual currency," Cao Yin, an expert in the blockchain sector, told the Global Times on Thursday.
"The development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is in progress, following approval by the State Council," said Wang Xin, head of the research bureau of the PBC on July 8, according to media reports.
Li confirmed to the Global Times that the PBC is conducting research and development into a CBDC with other market institutions.
"The central bank started research into a CBDC in 2017. The recent announcement could be seen as a response to Facebook's Libra," said Cao.
"Digital currency is a frontier financial instrument, over which China and US will have financial competition," Cao added.

Every business aims to make a profit, not just banks. They will try to maximise their profit margins but that does not mean that they are always able to remain profitable (by passing costs down to consumers) or rake in the profits that they have targeted to earn. Banks are subject to market forces just as any other non-monopoly is. In the face of competition, market participants have to push fees down to remain competitive, or to put it even more bluntly, just to remain relevant. The disruption of any sector forces profit margins down and the participants will start to cannibalise one other (no matter how big they are or how chummy they once were) as the going gets tough.

Singapore chosen by Bank for International Settlements for innovation hub centre
SINGAPORE - The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the global bank for central banks, will establish an innovation hub centre in Singapore in a move that Singapore's central bank said reflects the Republic's position as a leading international fintech centre.
BIS's Innovation Hub will span multiple locations. It will first set up centres in Basel, Switzerland, and Hong Kong, making use of existing BIS facilities there. Singapore will host its third hub centre, also as part of the plan's first phase.
Announcing this on Sunday (June 30), BIS said the role of the hub will be to identify and develop in-depth insights into critical trends in technology affecting central banking.
It will also develop public goods in the technology space geared towards improving the functioning of the global financial system and serve as a focal point for a network of central bank experts on innovation.
The move is the latest of recent fintech developments here. On Friday, Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced Singapore will issue up to five new digital bank licences, paving the way for non-bank players to break into the local financial service scene.
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Personal observations:
1. The doors are being opened to non-bank entities to participate in the Central Bank initatives - this is positive news as it means that the traditional incumbents (big correspondent banks such as Citi, et al) will see their monopoly diminish.
2. These three innovation hubs are only part of the BIS plan's first phase. This likely means that there will be future waves of innovation hubs being established worldwide. Again, positive news pointing to how the new digital payments "network" will inevitably supplant the conventional systems embodied by SWIFT and the like.

Thanks for sharing, this is very interesting. Does this mean that we could potentially have different ledgers (gaming, logistics, securitisation, etc) that are built on Ripple tech and they would all be able to use XRP natively i.e. XRPs can flow across all of these ledgers seamlessly with minimal (if any at all) integration effort needed?

Thanks for all your generous, insightful and balanced sharing! I have learned a lot from all your posts, to say the least!
I did a little search regarding the intriguing patented method that you were alluding to in the above post, might it be amongst the following?
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/result.html?p=1&edit_alert=&srch=xprtsrch&query_txt=IN%2F(Way+AND+Robert)&uspat=on&usapp=on&eupat=on&jp=on&pct=on&depat=on&date_range=all&stemming=on&sort=relevance&search=Search
1. 10187368
Resource transfer setup and verification
Systems and techniques are provided for a resource transfer setup and verification. A request for transfer conditions for a transfer of resources may be received from a first computing device. A...1000
2. US20180041486
RESOURCE TRANSFER SETUP AND VERIFICATION
Systems and techniques are provided for a resource transfer setup and verification. A request for transfer conditions for a transfer of resources may be received from a first computing device. A...1000
3. 10021040
Resource path monitoring
Systems and techniques are provided for a resource distribution system. Selected resource paths in a resource transfer network may be monitored. A quantity of an intermediate resource type to...1000
4. US20180041446
RESOURCE PATH MONITORING
Systems and techniques are provided for a resource distribution system. Selected resource paths in a resource transfer network may be monitored. A quantity of an intermediate resource type to...1000
5. US20180316624
RESOURCE PATH MONITORING
Systems and techniques are provided for a resource distribution system. Selected resource paths in a resource transfer network may be monitored. A quantity of an intermediate resource type to...1000
6. US20180041445
RESOURCE PATH MONITORING
Systems and techniques are provided for a resource distribution system. Selected resource paths in a resource transfer network may be monitored. A quantity of an intermediate resource type to...1000
7. WO/2018/024815A1
RESOURCE PATH MONITORING
Systems and techniques are provided for a resource distribution system. Selected resource paths in a resource transfer network may be monitored.A quantity of an intermediate resource type to...1000
8. WO/2018/024817A1
RESOURCE TRANSFER SETUP AND VERIFICATION
Systems and techniques are provided for a resource transfer setup and verification. A request for transfer conditions for a transfer of resources may be received from a first computing device. A...1000

To those who are using Coinbase and are transferring XRP there, please pay special attention to the fact that the destination tag changes every time you click on Receive XRP. In the event you send your XRPs there using any previously generated destination tags, it is likely that they will no longer be accessible. Had I not checked the details thrice-over, I would have used in a subsequent transfer the previous destination tag from a prior transaction.